As West sizzles, cities try to cope

Sunday

Jun 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 30, 2013 at 2:51 PM

TUCSON, Ariz. - Dozens of people were treated for symptoms of overheating, and many towns and cities across the western United States took emergency steps to help residents cool off as the region sweltered yesterday in dangerous triple-digit temperatures.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Dozens of people were treated for symptoms of overheating, and many towns and cities across the western United States took emergency steps to help residents cool off as the region sweltered yesterday in dangerous triple-digit temperatures.

Extreme heat enveloped most of California and Nevada and parts of southern Arizona as a large high-pressure system trapped hot air across the area, National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Lericos said.

“It involves pretty much the entire West Coast at this point,” Lericos said, adding that the steamy conditions, which began in some areas on Thursday afternoon, likely will continue into this week.

In Los Angeles County, many people have been hospitalized or treated for dehydration, exhaustion and heatstroke, said Keith Mora, a spokesman for the county’s fire department.

At an outdoor concert in Las Vegas on Friday, 34 people were taken to the hospital after succumbing to the heat. Another 170 suffered nausea and fatigue.

There were fears that migrants attempting to cross into the United States illegally from Mexico would die in the desert. Border agents were added on the U.S. side, said Brent Cagen, a spokesman for the Tucson sector of the U.S. Border Patrol.

At least three people, maybe more, who had attempted to cross the border into Arizona were found dead last week, likely succumbing to the heat, Cagen said.

Temperatures peaked at 119 in Phoenix, a record for June 29. in Las Vegas reached 115 degrees, two shy of the city’s all-time record.

The Running with the Devil Marathon, scheduled for yesterday in the Mojave Desert outside Las Vegas, was canceled. The race is designed so runners are “challenged to contend with high heat."

Officials in California, Nevada and Arizona set up air-conditioned “cooling centers” in community centers, homeless shelters and libraries, and they warned residents to avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.

In Phoenix, emergency shelters temporarily added 150 beds in an effort to safeguard hundreds of homeless.

“Phoenix is a major city with a lot of concrete that tends to hold a lot of that heat in, so it’s just like you’re in a dry sauna,” said Irene Agustin of the nonprofit Central Arizona Shelter Services in Phoenix.

In Nevada, officials in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, said they had installed 13 air-conditioned areas in community centers and homeless shelters, though the majority of them would be closed today.

In 2005, at least 17 people died during an equivalent heat wave over a 10-day period in the Las Vegas area.

Firefighters worry about dry conditions, which have ignited several major brush fires across the region recently, and about more blazes ignited by wayward fireworks launched from backyards to commemorate the Fourth of July.

In southern California’s Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, the temperature peaked at 125 degrees, short of the 134 recorded there a century ago. That’s the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

Dan Kail, 67, was on vacation in Las Vegas when he heard about the triple-digit temperature readings in Death Valley.

He hopped in a rental car and made the 21/2-hour drive, yearning to feel air that he later described as a “blast furnace.”

“I’ve never experienced that kind of heat,” said Kail, who owns parking lots in Pittsburgh. “It almost burns you as it blows by you. It’s amazing.”

Tucson mechanic Rick Riesgo, 55, was finishing a round of golf yesterday morning with the temperature already over 100.

“I just make sure I drink a lot of water … until 10 a.m., then I drink a lot of beer,” he said.

The tigers at the Phoenix Zoo were fed frozen trout, the monkeys got frozen yogurt and lions and other animals lounged on slabs of concrete cooled by piped water, said Linda Hardwick, a zoo spokeswoman.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.